Bank chief makes ‘menopause’ apology
HE was simply using a metaphor to try to explain Britain’s productivity crisis.
But in mentioning the menopause, Ben Broadbent, a deputy governor of the Bank of England, provoked a furious backlash from union chiefs, business leaders and MPs, who accused him of using ‘lazy, sexist’ language.
The 53-year-old said the term ‘menopausal’ could be applied to economies such as the UK’s that were ‘past their peak and no longer so potent’.
But he was forced to apologise for his ‘choice of language’ yesterday as a debate raged over the remarks.
Broadcaster Robert Peston tweeted: ‘Sloppy, empirically unsound and potentially offensive use of language.
‘There is no reason to think menopausal people are less productive or past their peak in any sense other than the bleedin’ obvious one.’
Frances O’Grady, head of the TUC, said Mr Broadbent’s language was ‘totally inappropriate’. She added: ‘There’s no need to resort to lazy, sexist comments to describe the economy.’
Not everyone was so easily offended. City commentator David Buik, of trading firm Core Spreads, said the criticism was over the top. ‘Come on folks, do we have to be so PC?’ he said. ‘Give the fellow a break.’
Journalist Celia Walden said: ‘I’m not remotely offended. It’s an odd metaphor to have used. But I worry that this sort of deliberate working ourselves up into states of offence all the time is just about bypassing a really important issue in order to focus on some sort of inconsequential word or phrase because it might be more fun to do that than talk about the economy.
‘Leaping on every mistake men make in order to deliberately get angry about it, I don’t think it’s really helpful. Who has time to be so offended all the time?’
Mr Broadbent, a close ally of Governor Mark Carney, was comparing the current economic situation in the UK to the late Victorian era when ‘productivity growth suddenly slowed to a halt’ between the ages of steam and electricity.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the former Goldman Sachs banker said historians used the term ‘climacteric’ to describe that period. He said the term essentially meant ‘menopausal’ because ‘you’ve passed your productive peak’.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Broadbent said: ‘I’m sorry for my poor choice of language and regret the offence caused.
‘Economic productivity is something which affects every one of us, of all ages and genders.’ He also apologised in a message to Bank staff.
Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: ‘I was astonished. As a “mature” woman, I found the comments offensive and demeaning. Not only are these stereotypes dangerous, they are utterly wrong. Millions of menopausal women are in, or are yet to enter, their prime.’
The row comes as the Bank battles to promote gender diversity amid a shortage of women in its upper echelons.
There is only one woman on the Bank’s nine-strong monetary policy committee that sets interest rates. The Bank has never had a female Governor and all four deputies are men.